Barnaby nodded. “But why couldn’t it just have been Collier behind it, with his death an accident as presently thought?”
“Because,” Dillon said, “finding substitute horses is expensive. They have to be specific matches, and Thoroughbreds as well.”
“So,” Flick said, “if Collier was hard-pressed, there must have been someone else involved.”
“More”-Demon caught Barnaby’s eye-“someone had to have bailed Collier out.”
Barnaby’s brows rose. “On condition he train and race-and arrange, however it’s done-the substitutions?”
Dillon nodded. “That seems likely.”
“I see.” Barnaby looked at Demon, then Dillon. “It looks like a visit to Grantham should be my next jaunt.”
Dillon rose. “I’ll get the details of Collier’s stable from the register, and we can check that the horses Demon remembers were the suspect runners. When are you thinking of leaving?”
“There’s a ball at Lady Swalesdale’s to night.” Standing, Flick shook out her skirts. “I’m sure her ladyship would be delighted to have you join us.”
“Ah…” Barnaby looked at her, then Dillon. “I’ll be off north at first light. I’ll need to spell my horses. I rather think I’ll give Lady Swalesdale’s a miss.”
Demon coughed to hide a laugh.
Flick leveled a severe glance at Barnaby.
Dillon scoffed, “Coward.”
Barnaby grinned. “You’re just sorry you can’t escape, too.”
In that, Barnaby had been wrong; Dillon hadn’t been interested in escaping Lady Swalesdale’s ball. Quite the opposite-he’d been looking forward to observing the lovely Miss Dalling coping with her smitten swains. If he was any judge of her temper, they’d soften her up nicely-for him.
Leaning against the wall of an alcove, concealed by the shadows cast by a large palm, he watched Priscilla Dalling captivate-and, whenever she noticed him watching, flirt with-a tribe of local gentlemen, one and all besotted by her bounteous charms.
While he appreciated the picture she made in her lavender silk gown with its keyhole neckline that, far from being decorous, drew attention even more provocatively to the deep valley between her breasts, while his eyes drank in the sleek yet curvaceous figure her well-cut gown so lovingly revealed, while his gaze was drawn to the exposed curve of her nape, to the vulnerable line highlighted by the black curls cascading from the knot on her head to bob seductively alongside one ear, it wasn’t her physical beauty that held his interest.
She did. The animation in her face, the grace with which she moved, the laugh he occasionally heard over the rumble of voices, the life he sensed within her.
Beauty had never meant much to him-it was just the outer casing. What was inside mattered more. When he looked at her, he saw a fiery spirit, a feminine reflection of himself. It was that that lured him, that drew him to her.
He continued to watch cynically as she dealt with her admirers. The outcome of her flirting was already trying her temper-serve her right. The gentlemen were a boon in his eyes; they had her corralled; she couldn’t slip from his sight without them giving warning.
Two days had passed since he’d encountered her racing for her very life over the Heath. Two days since he’d discovered some man had come far too close to ending her life.
The draining of all color from her face when he’d shown her the hole in her hat still haunted him. She hadn’t known how close to death she’d come.
He’d ridden his own temper hard and kept away for the rest of the day, and the next, knowing he’d meet her to night. He’d seen her at a distance in town; since he’d escorted her back to the Carisbrook house, she’d left it only in the company of her aunt and Miss Blake. No one had come to visit her, and she hadn’t slipped away to any illicit meeting; he’d had four of his stable lads on special duty, watching the house day and night.
Through the palm fronds, he studied her face-the set of her chin, her eyes-and decided she hadn’t yet softened enough for his purpose. It wasn’t yet time to offer her an escape.
He’d left Barnaby armed with the direction of Collier’s stable, east of Grantham. They’d confirmed Collier’s classy new runners had been the horses involved in the suspect races. Over dinner, Barnaby had remembered to mention that Vane had stumbled on similar whispers about a race run at Newmarket a few weeks before, early in the autumn season.
That had been most unwelcome news. Vane and Gabriel were hunting for more details.
The earlier suspect races had been at Goodwood and Doncaster, under Jockey Club rules, true, but not the same as a race at Newmarket, run under the Club’s collective nose. If it was part of the same scheme, the perpetrators were arrogant and cocksure. And there would almost certainly be more to come.
Dillon knew the scheme wasn’t targeted at him personally, yet as the Keeper of the Breeding Register and Stud Book, the office responsible for the verification of horses’ identities, the scheme was a direct challenge to his authority. More, the Committee had asked him to investigate and deal with the problem, setting said problem squarely in his lap. His past indiscretion, even if now history, only compounded the pressure.
The scheme might not have been conceived with a personal aspect, yet for him it had assumed one; he felt as if he were facing an as-yet-unsighted enemy who had a lethal arrow nocked and aimed at him-he had to cut the bowstring before the arrow could be loosed.
He refocused on Pris Dalling. Far from being on the side of his enemy, he was convinced she was presently standing somewhere in the mists between him and the opposition.
A moment passed, then he stirred, impatient to act, wishing she’d dismiss all the others and come his way.
She started edging from her admirers. He straightened. Watching more intently, he noted her sudden nervousness, the way she sidled to keep the shoulders of her attentive swains between her and someone farther up the ballroom.
Dillon scanned the guests. Lady Swaledale had assembled a small multitude, all the locals of note as well as many owners who belonged to the ton. He glanced again at Pris; to his educated eye, panic was rising beneath her glib surface, but who was inciting it was impossible to guess.
He was about to quit his sanctuary when she acted. Brightly smiling, she dismissed two gentlemen; the instant they left, she excused herself to the remaining three-judging by the wilting hand she raised to her brow, unimaginatively claiming a sudden indisposition.
The three were disheartened, but in her hands so malleable. They bowed; with what Dillon knew would be perfectly sincere thanks, she left them and headed his way.
She walked purposefully, casting swift, sharp glances up the room, taking good care to remain screened from that direction. She drew near the alcove, then to his surprise, stepped into the shadowed opening, simultaneously beckoning a nearby footman to attend her.
The footman came hurrying to bow before her. “Ma’am-miss?’
“I’m Miss Dalling. I wish you to take a message to my aunt, Lady Fowles. She’s seated on a chaise at the top of the room. She’s wearing a pale green gown and has ostrich feathers in her hair. Tell Lady Fowles that I’ve been called away and am returning home. I would rather she remain and enjoy the evening-she shouldn’t return early on my account. Please convey that to her immediately.”
Pris listened while the footman repeated the message, and nodded.
“Do you wish me to summon your carriage, miss?”
“No, thank you. Just deliver my message.” She bestowed a brilliant smile on the footman; he bowed and all but charged off on his quest. She glanced up the room, drew in a breath, and slipped out of the shadows.